Your Own Demons
by BatmanLoonaticsFan96
Summary: When the Gales come back and cast a spell on the gang, they all find themselves caught up in another epic battle where they learn that they all have darkness inside them and are just fighting themselves...literally. Sequel to "Light in the Darkness"
1. Return of the Storm

Your Own Demons

Finally, I got this up! It took forever to break the worst writer's block I've ever gotten on this site! At least I finally posted it. Hope you like it! Don't worry there will be more (hopefully, better ones). Oh! And this takes place between "Help" and "Selfless" and between "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" and "Supersymmetry".

Chapter 1: Return of the Storm

The bus slowly came into the town. One girl in the very back of the bus hid herself under a blanket, 3 other girls hid behind her seat, and 2 other girls hid on the luggage ledges near the roof of the bus.

The girl under the blanket lifted the edge of it just enough to reveal her golden eyes and she looked out the window just in time to see the sun setting as they came into the small town of Sunnydale. "Coast is clear, girls," she whispered. She took off the blanket to reveal a Vampire with short brown hair and a skin-tight burgundy cat-suit. She leaned forward in her seat and bit into the neck of the person in front of her. The person died and she moved on to the next one.

2 more Vampires (both girls, of course) came out of their hiding spots, and one girl turned invisible. One girl pulled out a dagger, and the last one went over and snapped one guy's neck.

When the 6 girls had killed every last one, they waited for the driver to reach his stop. Finally, the bus stopped and the doors opened. The last 5 girls went out and left the first Vampire alone with the driver. Before the last girl could leave, the driver turned his head enough to see the bus-full of corpses. He reached for the keys, but the girl just grabbed his wrist before he could.

"Push one button and I'll kill you," she warned. She let go of the driver's hand and he put his arm back to his side. She smiled. "Thanks." She snapped his neck. "I didn't say I wouldn't if you didn't." She left and met the rest of her group outside. "Let's go take this town." They all walked off.

* * *

Meanwhile, in LA, an 18-year-old boy walked into his "house" where a 22-year-old girl with short brownish-blonde hair was waiting. He walked over to her. "How've you been while I was gone, Cordelia?"

Cordelia looked at him and smiled. "OK. You?"

"Alright," said the boy, walking over to his bed and sitting down, "A couple Vampires but that's it."

Cordelia smiled again and sat down next to him. "Connor, I think I've been hearing voices in my head while you were gone. They sounded an awful lot like your father and his friends."

"Maybe you're missing them or something," said Connor.

"I don't think so," said Cordelia, "But there were several voices I've not heard yet and they seem familiar." She sighed and the 2 were silent for a couple seconds, thinking. "I wonder what your dad's doing right now."

* * *

A brunette man paced back and forth in the lobby of the Hyperion Hotel while a girl with curly brunette hair and a black man sat on the couch a few feet away from him.

"Angel, what is your problem?" asked the black guy.

_I already told you, Gunn, _Angel thought, _I've been sensing Angela again. There's something going on._

_Good guess._

The 3 of them turned to see a brunette girl standing at the door with a younger brunette girl who was holding a teddy bear.

"Hey, Angel," said the older brunette girl.

"Angela," Angel said, "So…what've you been up to?"

"Not much," said Angela, "I did try and track down the Gales once, but I got nothing. Nothing being a relative term."

"What do you mean?" asked the girl with curly brunette hair (whose name is Fred, by the way).

Angela scooted down the neck of her shirt enough to reveal a lightning-shaped symbol glowing yellow-orange on her skin. "It's been burning for a while now and I think the other Gales might have been feeling it, too. A dark power's rising right now and I don't think it has anything to do with Evelyn this time."

* * *

The girls from the bus made a circle in the hotel room they had gotten…by killing the original buyers. The shortest girl in the group finished drawing a symbol on the floor while the other girls lit some candles.

"We gather to conjure the power of Psyche, goddess of souls," said the short girl, "Bring forth the demons of the children we've chosen and let them fight their own." The symbol began to glow. "Let the demons take over their minds. Bring forth the demons, the Children of the Serpent. Bring forth the demons!" A glowing ball of energy appeared and zoomed out of the room, eventually coming back and disappearing. "No one could have seen it, but the demons will be out. We better find them before they're slain."

* * *

A girl about Cordelia's age with blonde hair kicked a Vampire (this one's a guy) in the face. She got him cornered and finally knocked him onto a headstone and staked him, turning him to dust. "Best part of the night. It was my treat to slay you." Then she started to hear something. It sounded like a young girl's voice, singing. She turned to face the direction it was coming from. "Hello?" She started to walk towards the voice.

" …_The moon comes out to play, such a merry holiday, when the hens are laying, trees a-swaying, soon there'll be daylight, so tell me now what's gonna happen if you die tonight? _"

The young girl was surprised to hear that last line. It made the song sound like something the Vampire Drusilla would sing. She was even more shocked when she turned a corner and saw who was singing.

At first, the girl's back was turned to her, so all she could see was the girl's silky, curled, shoulder-length brown hair and ankle-length dark red dress with purplish-brown swirls and black hem, neckline, belt, and wrists (of course, the dress had half-sleeves so the wrists really just reached her elbows).

"Dawn?" was all the blonde girl had to say to make the singing girl turn around and reveal her face.

"Buffy!" said the girl named Dawn, "How you been, sis?"

"W-What happened to you?" asked Buffy, "You…You're a Vampire."

Dawn smiled and put on her game face. "Good guess. And the name's not Dawn, it's Sunset. Try and call me my human name again…" She laughed turned back to normal. "…and I'll kill you."

Buffy backed up. "You're not my sister."

Sunset scoffed. "I thought we went over this 2 years ago. Of course, I'm your sister, even if Mom did adopt you from a…pile of howler monkey babies and didn't tell you because she didn't want to hurt your baby monkey feelings." She laughed. "What a ridiculous idea, right? Anyway, I'm still your little sis. Go ahead, you know what you have to do. I'm a Vampire, you're the Slayer. You've got a stake in your hand, it's 2-year-old logic."

Buffy looked down at her hands. She was holding a stake. "I…I can't."

"Of course, you can't," said Sunset, "You're just a spineless, pathetic little wimpy Buffy."

"Who did this?" Buffy asked, "Who killed you? Who's your sire?"

"I bet you'd like to know, wouldn't you?" Sunset laughed again. "You wanna go kill 'em to get revenge for the death of your sister. How about we skip that part and go right on to the part where one kills the other, OK?" She put on her game face again. "Let's get this show on the road."

Buffy turned around and ran down the street to her house. She came to it, opened the door, closed it behind her, and locked it tight.

Up came another blonde girl, a redhead girl, and a brunette boy.

"What happened, Buff?" asked the boy.

"Xander, can you help me block the door?" asked Buffy.

Xander shrugged and went over, holding the door shut as Sunset came up to the porch on the other side of the threshold and started to bang on it, attempting to knock it down. "Let me guess, Big Bad Vamp?"

"Pretty much," said Buffy, "You guys said you were going to watch Dawn while I was gone!"

"And we did," said the redhead, "Anya and Xander and I actually played a couple games with her and she's asleep on the couch in the living room right now."

Buffy leaned forward enough to see into the living room and saw that her little sister was indeed asleep on the couch in the living room. "What?" She pinned herself back to the door. "Then explain to me how there's a Vampire that looks exactly like Dawn and has the same memories on the other side of the door."

"What?" the other blonde (Anya, obviously) asked, "How is that even possible?"

"Didn't I just ask you that?" asked Buffy, "You're the vengeance demon. You've been alive long enough to see magic like this. How do you duplicate someone and turn the duplicate into a Vampire without anyone noticing?"

"I don't know," said Anya, "I don't think there is a spell that can possibly do that. Willow?"

"I don't know about any Vampire duplication spells," the redhead (Willow) said, "but I did sense some very powerful magic about an hour or so ago and I don't think it was all that good. Maybe it could be the guys that made Vampire Dawn."

"She's calling herself Sunset," Buffy corrected, "She's acting like Drusilla, if you ask me."

Xander pushed the door as hard as he could to keep it from falling down until finally the banging stopped. "I think she's gone."

On the other side of the door, one of the girls from the bus restricted Sunset from moving with one arm and covered the Vampire's mouth with her other hand. "Stop it!" she hissed in as low a voice as she could muster, "Listen my name's Melody. I'm part of a killer demon gang called the Gales and we summoned you to—OW!" Before she could finish her sentence, the Vampire who called herself Sunset had put on her game face and bitten Melody's hand.

Sunset pulled herself free and turned back to normal. "What do you mean you summoned me?"

"You weren't sired," Melody explained, "My Witch friend Cassie cast a spell and brought you forth. We're collecting your friends right now and we need you there with us."

Sunset looked at the door and threshold that kept her from entering the house and then turned back to Melody and crossed her arms. "Continue."

"I wonder why she gave up," Xander said.

"I don't know," said Buffy, "But if I know Vampires, and I'm the Slayer so I know Vampires very well, she'll be back for more…and she'll bring friends." She turned to look back at her sleeping [and (luckily) alive] sister. "Willow, Anya, we need to find out what kind of spell was cast that brought forth Demon Dawn, and fast."

"I'll get right on it," said Willow, heading up the stairs to start looking through her spell books.

* * *

The 6 girls had collected in the hotel with Sunset and several others. This time, to free up the whole building just for themselves, they killed everybody who came into the lobby.

"So, you girls, the Gales, have been a killer group for all these decades," Sunset recapped, "and you are opposing our human selves so you brought forth us, the demon versions of them, and you want us to help fight."

"That's it exactly," said the girl who'd killed the bus driver, "And just remember, I, Darkana, am the leader, so none of you be getting any ideas."

"Bored now," said Dark Willow, "Can't we kill somebody?"

"Tameeka, go get 'em a nice, juicy 12-year-old," Darkana told one of her friends.

Tameeka rolled her eyes and went into Ghost form.

"So when do Xan and I get to kill someone?" asked Anyanka.

"Now, now, honey, calm down," said Xan, "You can wait for…20 seconds."

"Don't even think about it," the Witch named Cassie snapped.

"Cass, you worry too much," said another Gale, "I can see the next 20 seconds and they're not gonna eat you."

"OK, then, Famina," said Cassie, "Don't make me zap you. Isabella, why can't we kill the Slayer on our own?"

"I had you summon the demons because the demons will remember their lives," said Isabella, "Darkana agreed that we'd never be able to fight them otherwise."

"Lucky for you, the real me has amnesia," said Cordy, "You'll get more about her out of me than you will from anybody, including the real me."

"Yes, that is very lucky," said Winnie, "Let's go kill her now! She's with the Vampires' child, you idiot!"

"And there's no way you'd be able to take him without one of us by your side," said a blonde Vampire.

"Ooh, meow, Tara," said Dark Willow, "Boy, am I glad Fame found you."

"But she is right, Will," said Xan, "This is a group effort against Angel, the Slayer, and their pesky human friends."

"So what do we do about Angelus and his sister?" asked a British Vampire.

"Wes is right," said Evil Gunn, "And what about the Slayer?"

A blonde Vampire was facing the wall, picking the petals off a flower she'd found outside. "Trust me," the Vampire girl said, dropping the empty stem on the floor and turning to reveal herself as a Vampire Buffy, "The real me is not going to be able to fight us." She laughed.


	2. Thunder and Lightning

Chapter 2: Thunder and Lightning

Angel's phone rang. He ran over to it and answered. "Hello?"

"Angel, we've got a problem."

"Buffy?" Everyone came to attention then. "What's wrong?"

* * *

There was a knock on Buffy's door. Dawn answered it and Angel ran in.

"What happened?" Angel asked.

"I don't know," Dawn said, "I just woke up. The sun's not up yet, is it?"

"No."

"I'm going back to bed."

Buffy came up and dragged her into the living room, plopping her down on the couch next to her and Xander and Anya.

Willow was on a chair.

Angel came up and sat down on the chair next to her.

Fred, Gunn, Angela, and Evelyn came in.

"So where's Spike?" asked Evelyn.

"Oh, he's insane in the school basement," Willow said. Buffy glared at her. "I mean he's out of town."

"Let me guess: the Gales are at it again," Xander said, nodding towards Angela.

Angela showed them her mark. "Yes. I think they may have something to do with—what's going on?"

"Well…" Buffy explained, "…last night I was patrolling and I ran into a Vampire who looked exactly like Dawn. In fact, it was exactly like Dawn, so I thought it was her. But then I came back here and found out that she was here."

"So there's a Vampire out there that looked exactly like your sister?" Fred asked.

"No, there's a Vampire out there that _is _my sister," Buffy corrected, "It fit all the qualifications. But Dawn is still alive. I don't get it."

"Well, maybe Wesley could—" Fred caught herself when Angel and Gunn looked at her. "Or…"

"Did we miss something?" asked Angela.

"It's a long story," said Angel.

"Oh, just like Connor?"

"Who?" Buffy asked.

"You mean he didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"Nothing!" Angel interrupted, scolding Angela in his head.

_Sorry, _Angela said, interrupting his rant. She sighed. _Why aren't you telling her about Connor?_

_If she found out I'd…spent that night with Darla, she'd freak out like you did._

_I did n—_ Angel gave her a look. _OK, maybe a little. _"Moving on…" Angel sighed and backed off.

"Maybe the Gales came back and did something," Gunn suggested.

At the mention of the Gales, Angela grabbed her shoulder.

"Right," said Dawn, "Or, maybe, this is…like some sort of aftershock of Evelyn's brief evil period or something."

Angela pulled down the shoulder of her shirt and saw that her mark was glowing…but it wasn't glowing yellow or orange…

"Yeah, right, Dawnie," said Buffy, "If it were, I don't think it would've waited a year to make itself know—" She then noticed Angel's sister… "Angela…why is your mark glowing blue?"

Everyone else turned their attention to her.

Angela pulled her top back up. She remembered the last time the mark had glowed blue…the very day she'd gotten it when the Gales had joined their powers together in the creation of an immortality spell… "The Gales did something…something very big…"

* * *

Connor left his makeshift apartment.

Cordy (I'm using "Cordy" for evil and "Cordelia" for amnesiac, in case you didn't notice) came up and followed him. "Alright," she thought out loud, "just gotta mess with his head. Shouldn't be too hard. You know what? He's a teenage boy. All I probably have to do is corner him and kiss him. I mean, sure I'm too old for him, but—"

"Is someone there?" He stopped walking and turned around and saw her.

Cordy stopped. "Connor! Uh…"

Connor looked her up and down. "How'd you change clothes so fast?"

"Uh…quick-change artist. Big talent in high school."

"Well, why'd you—"

"Connor?" Cordelia came out. "What's going—" She then saw Cordy. "Connor? Did I have a twin sister?"

"If you did I haven't met her." He looked at Cordy. "So how'd you know who I was?"

Cordy scoffed. "How do you know we haven't met?" She laughed nervously.

Connor glared at her.

She stopped smiling. "OK, let me rephrase that—" She ran off.

Connor raced after her. He looked at Cordelia. "Get back in there and don't come out!"

Cordelia nodded and obeyed.

Connor ran off after Cordy. He followed her tracks all the way to the top of a building. Then he looked around. She wasn't there. "What—" Suddenly, she jumped onto him from behind, knocking him down. Connor got ready to knock her off…but he couldn't move. "What?"

"Yeah, it's kind of demon-on-demon here."

Connor looked at her.

"A duplicate version of part-demon Cordelia Chase gets turned…" She Vamped out. "…into a Vampire. Power gets excelled 100 times, especially under conditions of a spell like this. Therefore, I am able to enchant the demon inside you and paralyze you. If you think that's cool, wait until you see what my friends can do. Oh, wait…you won't be alive to see it. And your little buddy Cordelia will be ours to meld with me and make my existence permanent and I'll destroy the world and there will be nothing that you or your father and his super-friends can do about it." She leaned in for the bite… "What do you think about that?"

Cordelia knocked her off. "I think if you're gonna kill someone, you should kill them—not stand there talking about it! Now we know your plan and you're not gonna get away with it." She picked up Connor and pulled him off.

Cordy jumped up, still in Vamp form, and started to run after them.

Connor took a deep breath. He felt the spell wearing off. He grabbed Cordelia and jumped over the side of the building.

Cordy slowed down and scoffed. "They really think it's gonna be that easy to lose me?" She jumped over the side of the building…and landed in a dumpster.

Cordelia closed and locked the dumpster. "Ha!" She looked at Connor. "I told you that plan would work one day!"

Suddenly, the dumpster door was dented as Cordy started to break out.

Connor looked at Cordelia. "And I told you that it wouldn't hold a Vampire longer than 8 seconds."

"OK, now is the time to run, not debate."

Cordy started trying to break the door again.

Connor noticed this. "I'm with you there."

Cordelia dragged him off.

By the time Cordy got out of the dumpster, both of them were gone. She growled and kicked the dumpster across the alley.

Cordelia and Connor stopped running after they crossed a couple streets.

"Connor," said Cordelia, panting, "we need to talk to your father."

"No! Absolutely not!"

"Connor! He's the only one that can help here—"

"We'll find a way to beat her ourselves!"

"She said she had friends. We barely caught one and still didn't catch her."

"Cordelia—!"

"Connor, I'm serious! We're talking to your father and you're gonna let him help us!"

Connor looked at her. After a few seconds, he sighed, letting her know that he gave in.

"Come on," Cordelia said, leading him off.

Little did they know that it would be harder than that to get rid of these Vampires…


	3. Father and Son

OK, problem: in my previous story, "Remember December", I had Angela in Caritas singing "On the Ride" by Aly and AJ but the story itself was taking place in 2001, at which time neither the band nor the song existed. Whoops! Sorry!

Chapter 3: Father and Son

Angela, Angel, Evelyn, Gunn, Fred, Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Anya made their way back to the hotel.

Cordelia and Connor made their way through the back.

They came in at about the same time.

Connor noticed Angel.

Angel noticed him. "Connor."

Angela noticed him. "Connor?"

Buffy noticed him. "Who?"

Connor walked forward. "Who are these people?"

"I don't know," said Cordelia.

Willow scoffed. "Ha, ha, very funny, Cordelia."

"You know who I am?"

Willow looked at her. "Yeah, why don't you?"

"Willow," Angel said, "Cordy has amnesia."

Willow processed this. "Oh."

Cordelia looked at Connor. "Aren't you gonna talk to him?"

Connor just sighed and walked off.

"Fine. I'll do it. Connor just got attacked. By me. While I was at his place. Also while he was going out into the streets."

"Wait, you were in 2 places at once?" Buffy asked.

"And one was a Vampire," Connor added.

Buffy blinked. "That happened to us last night. Except with Dawn here."

Angela grabbed her shoulder. "I knew the Gales were up to something."

Cordelia looked at them. "Huh?"

"Sorry," Buffy said, "I'm Buffy. Buffy Summers. The Vampire Slayer. And this is Willow Rosenberg, my best friend, a Witch. And my other best friend Xander Harris. And his ex-fiancée/a vengeance demon—long story there—Anya. And, finally, my little sister, Dawn."

Cordelia nodded. "OK. Not too much at once there." She looked at Angela. "What about you?"

"Oh, I'm Angel's twin sister."

"Angel has a twin sister?"

Angela nodded.

"Wonder how that detail slipped his mind."

Angel looked at her.

Connor came up to Angela. "Wait…so you're a Vampire, too?"

Angela nodded.

Connor, simply out of habit, punched her in the face.

She reared back, pinching her nose where he'd hit her. "I've got a soul, too! I've got a soul, too! …Granted, it's split, but I still have it!"

"Doesn't matter! You're still a Vampire!"

Evelyn looked at him, squeezing her teddy bear. "So am I. You're not gonna punch me, are you?"

Cordelia held Connor back anyway.

"Alright," Buffy walked up, "who are you to be going around punching people on our side?"

Angel intervened before Connor could give up who he was. "That's not important. We need to worry about the Gales here."

"Who?" asked Cordelia.

"Big killer demon girl group," Angela said, "Around by about my time."

"You mean around because of your time," said Xander, going to get something to drink.

"See?" asked Connor, "Evil!"

"It was before I got my soul," said Angela, "I wasn't even me." She went to start drinking some of the pigs' blood. They all looked at her. "What?"

Willow sighed. "There's gotta be some way we can figure out what's going on. I mean, 2 of us have been duplicated and the duplicates turn into Vampires without any of us knowing? That's ridiculous! It doesn't even make sense!"

"Well, Cassie can pretty much do anything she wants," said Angela, "She's about as powerful a Witch as you are, maybe stronger."

Willow thought about that. She smiled. "True. But Cassie isn't connected to the other Gales by a telepathic link…"

"Huh?" asked Connor and Cordelia.

"You guys explain, I do a spell." Willow walked off.

_Meanwhile…_

A young woman walked into an alley behind an old club. She looked around and saw nothing. She turned around to leave and ran into Tara.

Her pale blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail on one side. She wore a dark dress with a split skirt and a light purple-and-red hem. And she had earrings shaped like stars and an amulet shaped like a crescent moon. "What are you doing out so late? And in an alley of all places?"

"I'm looking for someone…" She stopped when she noticed something. She started whimpering and backing away.

Tara looked and saw an arm sticking out of the dumpster. She lifted the lid and revealed a boy's dead body.

The girl started screaming.

Tara rolled her eyes and turned to look at the girl in Vamp form. "Oh, shut up." She grabbed the girl and drank. When she was done, she snapped her neck and dropped her, turning back to human form.

Dark Willow walked up to her. "No fair. You didn't save any for me."

"She wasn't much." Tara folded her arms. "Besides, you got her boyfriend."

"Relax, girls," said Famina, walking up to them, "There's a whole club here for us all to share."

Both girls smiled evilly.

_Also meanwhile…_

The real Wesley was in his apartment. He looked around. It was empty. Like always. He walked over to his bed and sat down on it. He should be with his friends. Too bad they hated him right now.

_Back at the hotel…_

"So let me get this straight," Cordelia was saying, sitting on the couch in the lobby while Willow worked her magic upstairs, "Angel has a twin sister named Angela, who was Aingael as an evil Vamp and led this killer demon girl group called the Gales—named after both the storm _and_ the last half of her demon name—but Aingael fed off an amateur Witch's mother and that Witch zapped up her soul along with several of her own powers, then Angela fell for a Watcher and he split her poorly restored soul and Angela and Angel met and then…this."

"Pretty much, yeah," Angela said, sitting in a nearby chair.

"And the Gales are as follows: Darkana, half-demon/half-Vamp with the abilities of shadow manipulation and shape-shifting; Melody, half-demon/half-something-else, able to control and manipulate minds; Tameeka, half-Ghost with elemental abilities; Famina, half-Vamp/half-Oracle, who is psychic and a memory-stealer; Cassie, a telepathic Witch; and Isabella, a half-Vamp/half-Werewolf with super strength and speed."

"Yup."

"Wow."

"Yeah."

Anya was pacing. "What's taking Willow so long? You'd think she'd be done with this stinking spell already!"

"That's what you get for relying on magic," said Connor.

"You know, I am a vengeance demon. I am capable of flaying you."

"Anya, shut up!" Buffy snapped.

"Grumpy today, are we?" asked Xander.

"I'm sorry, it's just…this whole Dawn/Vampire thing is getting to me and I'm afraid I'm not gonna be able to slay the evil one—"

"Don't worry, we'll figure this out…" said Fred, "…eventually…if ever."

"Thanks for that, Fred," said Gunn.

"She has a point," Connor said. Evelyn rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand. "I mean, we can't rely on something like magic to—"

_You are a hopeless cynic. You know that, don't you?_

Connor looked at Evelyn. _What was that?_

_Oh, that was me talking to you telepathically._

Connor snatched his hand away from her.

_How does a 9-year-old know a word like "cynic"? _asked Fred.

_I live with Angela, the Vampire dictionary, _Evelyn answered.

_Very funny, _said Angela, _I'll admit that I have memorized A-F, but that's only because I had nothing to do in Mexico when my soul was turned on good._

_Wow, _said Xander.

_Guys, I got it! _Willow cried.

_Well, what are you waiting for? _asked Buffy, _Zap it up, Will!_

_Shouldn't we talk this out or something first to make sure it's safe? _asked Angel.

_Too late, _Willow answered.

_What do you mean "too late"— _Xander didn't get to finish. He was knocked out.

_Xander? _Anya started. Suddenly, everyone in the room was pulled from consciousness.

Wesley collapsed on his bed, too.

Before they could enter the club, the Vamps (except for Tara, of course) all froze for a second, sensing something was up with their human selves.

"What's wrong?" Tara asked.

"Something's going on…" Anyanka said.

_Buffy woke up in an empty place. She looked around and got off the fog-concealed floor. "Hello? Someone there?"_

_Dawn got up. "Buffy?"_

_"Dawn!" Buffy raced over to her._

_"What's going on? Where are we?"_

_"I don't know." Buffy started looking around. "WILLOW!"_

_The others started showing up._

_Fred noticed Wesley first. "Wesley?"_

_Wesley looked at her. "Fred?"_

_"What's going on here?" asked Angel._

_Willow walked forward. "I'll tell you. I just manipulated our link a little. We're now connected not only through thought…but on the DreamScape."_

_"We're _on_ the DreamScape?" Angela asked. She started looking around. "What?"_

_"I know, sort of freaking me out, too," said Anya._

_"Look, this is the only way I could peek into all of us and track the problem without killing myself. Now let me do a quick search and we'll—whoa."_

_"What?" asked Angel._

_"Well, I did say 'quick'."_

_"You're already done?" asked Buffy._

_"Hey, time has no meaning here. But let me tell you, I've got several centuries of mutilation to go through for Anya and the twins here. And still nothing! …Wait a minute…" She held out her hand and the place shook a little. "That's what I thought. Some of us have pieces missing."_

_"Heh?" asked Gunn._

_"We're missing parts of ourselves. I'm one, then Buffy—everyone except Connor, Angel, Angela, and Evelyn."_

_"And maybe those parts are the ones susceptible to Vampire takeover," suggested Angela._

_"What's going on?" asked Wesley._

_Before anyone could debate, Willow sighed and waved her hand, instantly, effortlessly, and in a split second showing Wesley the events of the past night._

_"Whoa."_

_"Yup." Willow kept looking. "No, I don't think Angela's theory is _exactly_ what's going on. For one thing, I'm peeking at our blood flow and it's perfectly normal, which, to the Vampires, means 'Hey, come and get it.' So we can still be turned. That pretty much means that what's going on here is impossible."_

_Angela sighed. "Looks like we're gonna have to talk to the Gales."_

_"Just one problem," said Evelyn, "Where are they?"_

Back at the club, the Vampire gang stormed in.

Melody walked up to the stage and kicked in the main amp, turning off the music and making everyone in the place drop what they were doing. "Alright, listen up!" She jumped off the stage. "You've got 2 choices: 1) you can be young and strong forever…oh, we can do that." She snapped her fingers and her Vampire friends locked every door. "Or 2…" Her eyes started to turn green with yellow slits for pupils and her teeth got a little more pointy. "…you can die."


	4. Fight Scene

Chapter 4: Fight Scene

Everyone woke up at the same time. They exchanged glances, realizing what was going on and raced off.

Except Dawn and Connor.

Buffy and Angel stopped them. "You stay here!" They raced off.

Dawn scoffed, offended.

"Well, he doesn't control me," Connor said, starting off.

Dawn stopped him. "No, but Buffy does. Or can at least."

"Yeah, you don't control me either."

Dawn blocked the door. "What are you talking about? I'm the older one here."

"No, you're not. I'm a year older, that makes me the boss of you."

"Actually, I was made a year before you were, which makes _me _older and the boss of YOU!"

While this kept going, Willow stopped Angel halfway down the street. "I'll make this simple: I know about Connor."

Angel looked at her. "What?"

"When I searched your minds, I saw your pasts. I know everything about Connor."

Angel pulled her aside. "You can't tell Buffy. If she finds out about me and Darla, she'll freak."

"No kidding. I saw Angela's reaction." Willow kept walking.

Angel followed her. "I'm serious. You really don't wanna upset Buffy."

"I'm serious. No kidding."

They nodded and kept on trying to find the Gales.

Finally, Angela stopped and groaned. "This is ridiculous! We're looking for a bunch of Vampires in a city of—what?—6 million people?"

Willow sighed. "This is where you should be glad to have me." She took a few rocks out of her bag and dropped them on the ground. They floated an inch over the sidewalk and spun and glowed. "See? I made them locate us and they're half pointing here and half pointing in…" She pointed forward. "That direction." She picked up the rocks and started following the pull. "Tell me you don't love me now." She let the rocks guide them to the club the Gales and their Vamp buddies had stormed. "They're in here." She put the rocks back in her bag, breaking the spell, and started trying to open the doors. They were locked. "It…It's jammed. I can't get in."

"What—" Angela started tugging on the doors, trying to get it to open. Nothing helped. "Buffy, maybe you can—" Suddenly, someone tapped on her shoulder. She yelped and whirled around in surprise. "Oh, it's just Wesley."

Wesley was there. He nodded.

Angel started onto him almost immediately. "What are you doing here?"

Willow held him back. "Angel, I understand why you're upset with him, but this involves him, too. We need him here."

Angel looked at her, then at Wesley. Then he noticed Angela crossing her arms at him and giving him a look. Whether or not she understood like Willow did, she was intimidating like that. Angel sighed, consenting. "Fine."

Angela gave him a quick smirk. "OK, Buffy, try to break the door."

"No, wait—" Wesley started.

Too late. Buffy had already tried digging the heel of her hand into the lock, only to be thrown back into the street by a surge of energy. She collected herself almost immediately and started to figure out what had happened. So she didn't notice a car coming. Suddenly, she was pulled back onto the sidewalk. She regained her senses and pulled herself free of Angel's grip. "Thanks." She glared at Wesley.

Wesley gave her a look. "I was trying to tell you. If Angela can't break a simple lock like that, Cassie must have charmed it so that we can't get in."

Buffy nodded. "Thanks for the warning."

Cordelia finally spoke up: "Shouldn't there be a way to counter the spell or break it?"

"Could be," said Willow. She walked over to the door and waved her hand over it, reading the spell. "Nope."

Anya gave her a look. "You're telling me that you're this insanely powerful Witch and you can't break another Witch's spell?"

"This lock spell would require a skeleton key counter-spell. We don't have what we'd need to do that spell! Which means we'd need a few hours to get everything and considering the fact that the Gales have likely locked themselves in there with 1000 victims—yeah, that won't work."

Angela groaned. "For crying out loud, it's like they don't know I'm here." She grabbed Willow's arm with one hand and the door with the other. Her eyes quickly flashed black and the lock broke in a strike of lightning. "And _that _is why you should be glad to have _me_." She kicked the door down with such force that it flew off its hinges.

Gunn looked at Angel. "I gotta say it, man: your sister's cooler than you are."

Angela smirked and led them into the building.

Angel was the last one in. He stood on the sidewalk, mumbling: "She's not cooler than I am."

Angela looked around the place they were now in. It was a dark hallway, lit by a single ceiling light that was pretty dim.

Angel approached his sister. "What was that?"

"My power mixing with Willow's. Just a touch, not one of my powers. _This_, however, is." She blinked and her eyes glowed slightly, allowing her to see everything in the hallway, despite the horrible lighting. She used this to find the way into the main room, where she knew the fight was starting.

Wesley approached Angel. "So what's the tally?"

Angel held up one finger. "Telekinesis…" He held up a second finger. "…enhanced senses…" 3. "…healing blood…" He now had up every finger except his thumb. "…and night vision." With that said, he led the gang after Angela.

Angela finally led the gang to a door, stopping them outside it so she could listen without fear of them being spotted. She peered out the doorway just enough to see everyone in the room (except, of course, the bad guys) unconscious and Melody sucking out the soul of Darkana's current victim.

When Darkana stopped feeding, she let Melody get what was left and snapped her victim's half-dead neck, dropping the body on the floor. After this, she turned from Vamp mode back into her human form. "How many more are there in here?"

Famina looked around. "At least 50."

Tameeka sighed. "Maybe we should give our little friends a go."

Suddenly, a knife flew by her head and imbedded itself in the wall behind her.

Tameeka shook her head. "Don't tell me. They found us."

"Got that right."

The Gales all turned to see Angela standing there.

Darkana smiled. "Angela. I didn't think we were gonna see you ever again!"

"Well, I'm back," said Angela, "And I believe I told you to stay out of my life."

"Correction," said Isabella, "You told us to stay out of Sunnydale and away from Evelyn. LA, she's not here."

"Who do you think threw the knife?"

Evelyn jumped in and tackled Isabella.

Isabella kicked her in the gut hard enough to knock her into the ceiling.

Evelyn hit the ceiling full force but recovered fast enough to grab onto the rafters instead of fall. She used her inertia to fall faster in a tuck-n-roll aimed to land on unsuspecting Isabella.

Unfortunately, Isabella saw this coming. "JUMP HER!" She sped out of the way at full speed.

Evelyn didn't land. She was tackled in midair and pinned to the floor, her spine now sore and a couple bones cracked. And she was probably bleeding internally. She looked to see who her attacker was… "Xander?"

Actually, it was Xan. But Evelyn didn't know that yet… "Who'd you think it was, Santa Claus?"

Evelyn kicked him off and jumped up, racing over to Angela.

Xander rushed in with the others to see what the chaos had been about. "That's me!"

Famina looked at him and then at Xan. "Wow. He's proved he has 2 eyes." She suddenly started giggling. "And if you could see what I can see, you'd know how clever what I just said was."

"Bored now." The gang recognized that voice and their eyes widened as they turned…to look at Dark Willow. "When do they start screaming?"

"Oh, a few seconds after we start trying to kill them," said Isabella.

"W—" Willow looked back and forth between Xan and Xander and then at Dark Willow. "We—you—and I—and me—we're—what?"

Darkana sighed. "I hate when I have to spell it out for you." She snapped her fingers.

The other Vampires all came out.

And Willow's eyes fell on Tara.

Tara smirked at her.

"Uh…are we outnumbered here?" asked Evelyn.

Angela looked around. She counted their team. "Buffy…Willow…Xander…11." She counted the other team. "16."

"We're dead."

"Some more than others," Fred just had to say.

Willow then got what was going on. "The Gales cast a spell. It unleashed the Vampire versions of us!"

Cassie smiled. "Wow. They finally got it. Took you long enough. Believe it or not, the demon the Vampire creates? It's already inside you. All you need is a little boost to get your stinking souls out."

"Wait," Gunn said, trying to figure this out, "So the demons are out, but the real us can still be turned?"

Cassie considered this. "It's a confusing process, OK? All I know is that if you kill the Vampires now, it's gonna kill the real version, too."

That got their attentions.

"Well, except for Tara over there, since she's already dead."

"Yeah, speaking of me…" Tara started. She raced at them.

Buffy kicked her, knocking her back into a pile of crates.

Tara got up in Vamp form.

"Fight now?" asked Angela.

"Good idea," Buffy said. The fight started. Buffy and Evelyn pulled Xander and Anya off to the side. "Get all the innocents out! NOW!"

Xander and Anya nodded and ran off, dragging out all the unconscious mortals they could grab.

Buffy and Angel got back to back in the center of the room, 2 Gales in particular coming after them.

"I'll take Melody, you take Cassie!" Angel said.

"Got it!" Buffy nodded.

Cassie smirked and wrapped herself in her magic, transforming into a dark sorceress.

Meanwhile, Melody's eyes turned entirely green with yellow slits for pupils, her teeth grew as sharp as knives, her nails turned to claws, and her skin became gray and blood red.

"Wanna switch?" Angel asked Buffy.

"Please," Buffy answered. She reached over her head and grabbed onto his shoulders, using him as a backboard to flip over and drop-kick Melody.

Angel, while Buffy did this, whirled around to spin-kick Cassie in the side.

Angela elbowed Evil Fred (Winnie) in the face, knocking her back into the wall in time to notice this incident. "Is it me, or are the Gales a lot more powerful?"

Tameeka materialized next to her, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. "While we were gone, we dabbled a little more into the Dark Arts. And guess what we found? Darkie gets herself tapped a little more into her Remori side, I become full Ghost power even if still half-human, Fame gets to peek further into the future, Bella gets stronger and faster, Cass becomes the dark sorceress she was meant to be—which led us to the Vamp spell we recently cast—and guess what Mel's mystery side is?"

Wesley didn't have to guess. He just needed to see her transformation and realize that that wasn't a demonic change. "She's half-Treilnaok!"

Everyone but the Gales looked at him, making the fight stop for a second. "What?"

Wesley sighed. "Gotta explain everything. A Treilnaok is a demonic sort of creature that feeds off the souls of mortals and can absorb the power of magic creatures. Their touch is poisonous, their blood is acidic, and their gaze is deadly or—in the case of a Halfling like Melody—petrifying."

"Sounds more like a basilisk to me," said Anya.

Evelyn looked at her. "You know, as many years as you've spent in the demon world, I'm surprised you didn't know anything about that."

"Demons don't talk about creatures like that. It makes things…tense."

Melody sighed. "While we're on the subject of making things tense…" She sped over to Willow and grabbed her.

"Will!" Buffy cried, racing over there.

Melody threw Willow across the room and knocked her into a wall, knocking her out.

Buffy and Xander raced over there.

Xander looked her over. Her vital signs were going down…and her magic wasn't sparking. "Uh oh…"

Melody smirked and held up a hand…to reveal that she'd taken Willow's power. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you guys had lost your touch."


	5. Death

Chapter 5: Death

Willow was half-conscious on the floor.

Melody had Willow's magic.

The team was severely outnumbered.

There was no denying it. They were losing.

But Evelyn had other ideas. _I'm the __Amwyn a Difetha__. I can take them. I have more power than they could hope, power Melody can't take because I'm not fully tapped in yet. I've gotta save my friends! _Without thinking any further, she closed her eyes and focused. She opened her eyes to reveal that they were the golden color of a Vampire's eyes, but she wasn't even in Vamp mode. Suddenly, she felt herself pulling together all the rage inside her and cast a large beam of magic energy at the bad guys in the room. Every bad guy was launched backwards.

The team seized the opportunity and raced out at full speed.

Buffy, who was helping Xander support too-weak-to-run Willow, looked at Angel. "I hope Dawn and Connor are doing better than we are."

_Back at the hotel…_

Dawn was now giving Connor a death glare. "I can't believe how insensitive you are!"

"I can be sensitive, I just don't want to," Connor retaliated.

Dawn blinked. "Wow, you're stupid."

Connor glared harder. "Who are you calling stupid?"

That's when Buffy walked in with Angel and the others. "So how are our 2 favorite kids doing?"

"Drop dead!" Dawn snapped at Connor, not having even heard Buffy come in.

"You first!" Connor snapped back, not having heard them either.

"That's good," Buffy said.

Dawn and Connor started jumping at each other to exchange the verbal fight for a physical one.

Buffy and Angel instantly pulled the 2 apart, letting Angela and Evelyn come over as backup.

"Dawn…" Buffy said.

"Connor…" Angel said.

"KNOCK IT OFF!" both of them snapped. They looked at each other.

Willow weakly walked over to the fridge in the office and took out an ice pack, putting it to her head. "First of all, I'm fine. Didn't get broken and crushed in 207 places and finally killed. Thank you."

Dawn walked over to her. "What happened?"

"The Gales have gotten stronger. And they cast a spell to let loose our Vampire versions. Not to mention the fact that Melody's missing half is some sort of demonic creature that was able to grab my magic for herself. We're outnumbered and overpowered."

Connor sighed. "See? No good comes from this."

Dawn turned to glare at him. "You're one to talk."

"Well, look who's talking now, Little Miss Almost-Got-the-World-Destroyed!"

"THAT'S IT!" Dawn jumped at him again.

Angela tried to hold her back and Angel and Buffy tried to hold down Connor.

Finally, Evelyn groaned and took on the position of mediator: "Would you 2 just break it up?" She got between them and cast out enough magic energy to keep them down. Finally, they backed off. Of course, they did glare at each other and then whirl around so that they didn't have to look at each other.

"I get the feeling they haven't had enough bonding time," Angela said.

"Really?" Buffy said, "Because I'm getting the sense that they just plain don't like each other."

Dawn and Connor answered that by turning enough to look over their shoulders at each other and then, with a quick glare, turn back away from each other. "Hmph!"

"Suspicions confirmed," said Anya.

"No kidding," said Cordelia.

"Hey, you 2 are gonna have to get it together sometime," said Gunn, "Dawn's apparently just as much a part of this spell as we are."

"See what I mean?" Connor said, "No good can come from this kid!"

Dawn whirled around to glare at him intensely. "Do you wanna go?"

Suddenly, the 2 teens were in any even more heated argument.

The others started to get between them but Angela, seeing no physical harm coming any time soon, simply held up her hand to tell them to stand down. She then held up 3 fingers. 3…2…1… "HEY!"

Dawn and Connor stopped and looked at her.

"Break it up or I break you. GOT IT?"

Dawn and Connor looked at each other and then sighed and looked at the floor.

The group then proceeded to sit down on the couches.

Except Dawn and Connor who sat on a couple chairs behind the couches. They noticed how close they were sitting and scooted the chairs further apart.

Xander looked at them and then at his friends. "You sure we can trust them back there?"

Oddly enough, it was at that moment that Dawn started flicking Connor's ear and Connor prepared to knock her in the shins.

Angela sighed. "Trust me. I think we can handle them." Without looking: "Dawn, stop flicking his ear. Connor, if you kick her in the shins, I will personally break yours."

Startled, the 2 backed off and scooted their chairs even further away.

"Thank you." Angela turned back to the group. "You were saying?"

Xander blinked at her. "Nothing. Continue."

Angel looked at Wesley. "Look, I personally don't want you here. But since you apparently are just as much roped into this as we are…we'll just have to keep our distance."

Dawn then noticed a book lying nearby. She grabbed it and aimed to throw it at Connor—

"Dawn!" Angela snapped, once again without looking.

Dawn instantly opened the book and pretended to read it instead of actually throwing it anywhere.

Wesley sighed and looked at Angel. "As much as you don't want me here, I don't want to be here. So we might as well just stick with it until this is over. Who knows? Maybe the matter will even resolve itself and we won't even have to look at each other."

Dawn scoffed, thinking the same thing for herself and Connor. _Wouldn't that be nice._

Connor then proceeded to grab a nearby pillow—

"I'm not even gonna say it!" Angela snapped at him without looking.

Connor dropped the pillow.

Dawn looked at him and then at not-looking Angela. "It's like she has eyes in the back of her head!"

Angela just smirked.

"If she did, I wouldn't be surprised," Evelyn said, "You would not believe how many times I've not gotten away with something."

Angela shifted the smirk to her. "No eyes in the back of my head. I'm just really perceptive."

Evelyn scoffed. "More like a mind-reader if you ask me."

"What do you think 'perceptive' means?" asked Cordelia, half-jokingly.

"Look, shifting back to the problem at hand," said Willow, "It would appear that the Gales are twice as strong as when we last met them, they have evil versions of us working with them, and they have my Cassie-level magic powers! If you ask me, I'd say we're 0 for 9000."

"It can't be that bad!" said Anya, "There's gotta be a bright side!" 5…4…3…2…1… "You know what? I got nothing."

"There's gotta be some way we can break them!" said Fred, "Sure, Evelyn's powers can apparently hold them down. That doesn't mean we can beat them with them. There's gotta be some way we can eliminate the Vampires they have on their hands and then we can more easily get rid of the Gales."

"Well," said Wesley, "I did a lot of research on Remori demons after our first encounter with them. And I know a few facts and details about the Treilnaok. But I don't think I can tell a way to just outright kill them."

Willow, still holding an ice pack to her head, then got an idea. "Wait a minute! Kill them! We don't have to dust our Vamp versions safely, we just have to kill the Gales! If the casters are out of the way, the spell is broken! Then we don't have to worry about them! Of course, that would be a lot harder now than it was before—and if you especially take into account that Angela is technically the only one to have basically taken out a member of their team—WAIT! Angela said that they joined their power together to make themselves immortal when they first became a group! Maybe that means they're magically linked together! So all we have to do it take out one of them and it'll weaken them all, especially Cassie, the Witch holding it all together now that Angela isn't a part of them. And once we've done that, it's all downhill from there for them." She looked at Angela. "Right?" Angela just looked at her. "Right?" Angela shook her head. "You know, it'd be nice for the _injured person _to have a little SUPPORT!"

"I'm sorry, Will, it's just…" She sighed. "You know what? I'll just say it: my powers won't permit that."

Willow blinked. "What?"

"Just because I left the group doesn't mean I broke the enchantment. I'm still technically part of their team. In case you're forgetting, Aingael is still innately inside of me. And that kind of emotional withdrawal and weakening…it could break me. It could set her loose. And she would stop at nothing to get Angelus out with her, let alone together with the remaining Gales. That plan of yours would definitely make up for losing the Vamps versions of you guys. We just gotta face it. They've got us cornered."

Buffy sighed. "That's it. We're toast."

[Music swells then winds down.]

Dawn groaned. "Oh, great. Connor's contagious." Connor quickly grabbed the pillow he'd dropped and threw it at her. "OW!"

"OK, _SO _not the time!" Angela snapped.

"I know, totally just killed the moment," Evelyn added.


	6. FaceOff

Chapter 6: Face-Off

Angela was in the lobby, flipping frantically through an old book.

The rest of the gang was on the stairwell, watching.

Buffy tuned her out to talk to the others: _What do we do? How do we talk to her like this?_

_There's really no way we can, _Wesley said, _Obviously, the events of the night have gotten to her head. She's…well, crushed to say the least._

_There's something going on, _Angel informed them before they could say anymore. He walked over to his sister and knelt down by her seat. "Something going on here?"

"I'm trying to find the details to Cass' spell in my old diaries," Angela answered, "Demon or not, I keep a record. Maybe if I can find an outlet, a loophole, we can still go through with some of Will's plans without risk of releasing Aingael."

"You know, you don't have to go through these diaries like this. Vamps like us have photographic memories."

"I wish. I lost some of my memory the night my soul was split and I've continuously lost at least another one every time my soul gets knocked out. One of the downsides of my curse."

Angel sighed and took her hand. "We're gonna get through this, OK?"

Angela looked at him. "I hope so. I don't think I could bear it if I lost you. I mean, I just got you a few years ago and have only had you a few weeks since."

Angel held up her hand. _"We're gonna die together, at the same time, both with souls at the time." Remember?_

Angela half-smiled. _Yeah. _She clutched his hand tighter. _I'm glad I have a brother._

_I'm glad I have a sister._

_And I'm glad it's you, _both twins said at the same time.

Angela smiled.

_Uh, guys? We can hear you, you know._

_Great, now she's an eavesdropper._

_THAT'S IT! _Dawn quickly jumped Connor, knocking him to the floor and wrestling him.

Buffy groaned. "Dawn—!"

Suddenly, all the lights in the hotel went out.

Dawn looked around, freezing in place. "What's going on?"

"Darkana's calling card," Angela answered, half-panicking. She looked at everyone. "Go! Run! Hide!"

Everyone scattered.

Just as soon as they were all hidden, in walked the Gales and the Vampires.

"I see nothing," said Isabella.

"They're probably hiding," said Famina.

"No, I mean I literally see nothing."

Darkana groaned and waved her hand, manipulating the darkness so that there was just enough light to let them see everything.

"OK, that's better."

"Spread out, they've gotta be here somewhere."

The group spread out.

Darkana was quickly the only one left in the lobby. She smirked. "I know you're there, Aingael."

Angela came out of hiding and glared at her. "That's not my name anymore."

"How can you be a Vampire without facing your demons?"

"Look who's talking."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I think you know. You and Divinity—"

Darkana jumped at her, pinning her to the wall. "What do you have to say about my sister?"

"You killed her. Twice."

"Who's to say she's dead? She's a half-Remori. We all know they don't die like most people. Stage 1: die. Stage 2: return as half-alive. Stage 3: disappear. Stage 4…well, no one has lived long enough to see all three stages and what came after. Let's just say she never truly leaves."

"So when are you gonna face up to that? To you, she's just another victim. To me, she's a friend…and your sister. Why can't you see her like that? Why do you always pretend she never existed?"

"I'm not gonna dwell on the existence of that little—"

Angela seized the moment to head-butt her, her eyes turning green as her anger welled up inside her. "Let's just call me her avenger."

Darkana glared at her. "Good. Just one more memory of my dear sister to eliminate." She kicked her in the face and the fight started.

Meanwhile, Tameeka walked down the halls on the next floor. She looked around, trying to figure out where the gang was hiding.

Melody walked up to her. "You found anyone?"

"No. Go check the next turn."

Melody nodded and took the next turn to start looking down that hall.

Tameeka suddenly stopped walking and slowly smiled. She looked at one of the doors and kicked it down. She looked into the room…to find it empty. "Huh." She walked in. "Could've sworn I heard—" She used her elemental abilities to send a wind at the furniture in the room.

The furniture's wipeout revealed Xander crouched in a corner.

Tameeka smirked. "Thought the winds caught your presence."

Xander reached behind his back to discreetly grab his knife. "You're a pretty powerful Elemental."

"No kidding. And while we're on the subject, I'd say that you—"

Xander quickly jumped up and moved to stab her in the heart.

Suddenly, Tameeka was gone. She reappeared next to him. "Nice try."

Xander whirled around to face her.

"But you can't kill a Ghost." She jumped at him and the two began to fight.

Meanwhile, Dark Willow and Tara walked into the cellar.

"Oh, Willow," Tara cooed, "We know you're here."

"Come out, come out and play, wherever you are!" Dark Willow called.

Tara suddenly stopped her. She subtly turned her gaze to a box.

Dark Willow smirked, getting the message. "Oh, well." She started walking over there, as quietly as she could. "I guess she's not…HERE!" She kicked the box away, revealing a terrified and weakened Willow there. "Oh, look who I found." She grabbed Willow by the throat and lifted her to start choking her. "What say you we play with her for a while?"

Willow thought fast and kicked her in the gut, making her drop her. She seized the moment to run off, punching Tara on the way out to make sure she didn't hinder her.

Angela and Darkana were still fighting in the lobby.

Evelyn showed up fighting Isabella.

Angel was now tackling Melody.

Buffy threw Cassie over the second floor railing an down to the lobby floor, jumping after her and landing on her feet.

Willow turned around to see Dark Willow and Tara following her from the cellar and kept running.

Xander came along with Tameeka.

Anya came up after him, trying to get away from Xan and Anyanka.

Wesley was trying to get rid of Wes.

Cordelia was attempting to ditch Cordy and Sunset.

Fred ran from Winnie, finally tripping her to make her fall down the stairs.

Gunn had to deal with his evil counterpart and evil Buffy.

Finally, Dawn and Connor came along, fighting…each other.

"Dawn! Connor!" Angela snapped, "Why aren't you fighting Famina?"

Connor got up to look at her. "Who?"

Famina ran up. "I've never been so insulted."

Darkana looked at Angela. "Since you care so much about my sister, why don't I get a hitting in for your little Evie?" She grabbed Evelyn.

Angela thought fast. She reached into her boot and yanked out a dagger, throwing it at her ex-friend.

Darkana cried out in pain when the dagger pierced her in the chest. She yanked it out. "OK, that hurt!"

Evelyn seized the moment to grab her wrist. "Speaking of your sister, why don't put you into her shoes?" She reached for the dagger, only for Darkana to kick her down. She jumped back up almost instantly, punched her captor, snatched the dagger, and dealt out one more kick for good measure. She then proceeded to grab her and throw her into Isabella. "Ha! HA!"

Melody seized the moment to use Willow's powers and send a spell flying at them.

Angela saw this coming. She closed her eyes. She sent her power welling up inside her till it became as strong as it could. Then she felt someone take her hand. She opened her eyes, not taking her focus off of her power summons, and smiled at Evelyn, who was adding on to it with one hand and clutching her power-filled teddy bear with the other.

Melody cast the spell.

Angela held up her free hand to collect the magic energy and send it back at Melody, knocking her into Famina and Cassie and thus making all three of them go flying through the doors and out into the back of the hotel, landing on the pavement…well, painfully.

Cassie groaned. "BELLA!"

Isabella, without giving it a second thought, sped out there. "What, Cass?"

Cassie grabbed her, taking a little bit of her energy—

Tameeka body-slammed into them, knocking both of them down.

Xander glared back at them, Angel standing next to him. "You can't kill a Ghost…"

"…but you can throw her into the pavement," Angel finished for him.

"HEADS UP!" Angel and Xander moved out of the way to let Vampire Buffy go flying by and into the dog pile. Buffy walked out to smile at her work. "That felt good." She turned back around to see that they still had to deal with Darkana, Dark Willow, Tara, Xan, Anyanka, Winnie, Wes, Cordy, Evil Gunn, and Sunset. And Dawn and Connor had started fighting again. Buffy groaned over that last one. "I'm not even gonna bother."

Suddenly, an even stronger spell flung all of the bad guys but Sunset back into a whole new dog pile out back.

Everyone looked at smirking Angela.

Angela just smiled. "Gotta love the touches."

Darkana got up out back and started to storm back inside, only to be pulled back by some unseen force.

Suddenly, the same force sent everyone else inside the building flying back, except Dawn and Sunset who were also pulled practically to the door.

Darkana looked at Cassie.

Cassie just moaned, weakened.

Darkana groaned. "Looks like we need to go get something else to eat. We'll come back later. With any luck, Sunset will be able to do some damage by herself here."

Angela heard this with her heightened senses. She looked at Wesley. "OK, did you know Cassie was part-Drainer? Because I didn't."

Wesley just looked at her.

Sunset looked at Dawn. "Guess I'm leaving you with your boyfriend, not that you could hold one. Just like you can't keep yourself, couldn't even keep your sister alive."

Dawn glared at her. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying you're weak. You always have been. And you always will be."

Dawn growled, snatched a nearby block of wood…

"DAWN, NO!" Buffy cried, knowing what would happen.

…and staked her Vampire counterpart.

Sunset was dusted instantly.

Buffy was hit hardest of all as she realized what would now happen to her sister.

Dawn then realized her fatal mistake and dropped the makeshift stake. There was nothing she could do now. One version of her was dead, so now the other—her—would go down, too.


	7. Confused

Chapter 7: Confused

"OK, why am I not dead?" Dawn asked the gang, congregated in the hotel again about two hours later.

"I don't know," said Fred, "You staked her and the spell works so that if one version of the spell's victim dies, the other does. Do you think the Gales were bluffing?"

Angela sighed. "No, that's not how Darkana works." _DING! _"That's it! If the counterparts kill themselves…er, each other…or…whatever! That's when the Vampire will die but not the human."

"But what if it only works that way once?" asked Willow, "Or if it was just Dawn because of her magic background? Or it was only because Sunset was far enough away from the Gales that were holding her—"

"Come up with enough theories as you want. I'm telling you, our speed is the only thing we have now."

Wesley then grabbed Angela by the arm and pulled her off to the side while everyone else was talking about her conclusion. "Angela—" He cut himself off. He was still in range of Angel's hearing at least. So, he instead blocked everyone out in the link to talk to her privately there: _Darkana is half-Remori, a deadly demon. Melody is half-Treilnaok, an even worse monster. Tameeka has full Ghost power. Famina can see every move we make hours in advance. Cassie is a Dark Caster and a Drainer. And Isabella is stronger and faster than anyone here. On top of all this, we're outnumbered by four from people who know us the best—our Vampire selves._

_There's still hope, Wes, _Angela replied, _Since when are you the antagonist here?_

_Angela, we can't touch two of them and another one we _literally _can't touch!_

_Well, at least we have a plan now for dealing with the "outnumbered by Vampire selves" part._

_What about Tara? And what if the stronger ones don't collapse that way? What if Cassie knows what happened to Sunset and intends to reinforce the others since she now has power to?_

_Too many "what if"s, not enough "so"s._

_What does that even mean?!_

_Just trust me on this one, Wes? I know what I'm doing when it comes to the Gales. They were my team, you know. _That said, she went back over to the others.

Wesley then blocked in on the other twin. _Your sister's insane. You know that, right?_

Angel smirked. _Like everyone else here isn't?_

Wesley smirked back at that.

"So what are we supposed to do?" asked Buffy, "Storm their hideout and slaughter our Vamp selves? In case you haven't noticed, we don't know where they are and they're way too powerful for us, especially with the Gales backing them up with Willow's magic!"

"Then what do we do?" asked Cordelia.

Angela looked at Willow lying weakly on the couch…and smirked. "I think I have an idea…" She then proceeded to flash her plan to everyone through the link.

Willow instantly gathered up enough strength to give up an argument: "NO! Use me as bait?!"

Angela walked over to her. "Come on, Will, it's perfect!"

"From where are you drawing that conclusion?! Melody's already got my powers that were too strong for me when _I _had them, Isabella's way too strong and way too fast—"

Angela sat down on the couch by her. "Maybe, but Melody and Isabella are all about the chase. They're not the type to get at someone they've already taken down; more the type to lock us in a giant maze with our full powers, give us a ten minute head start, and then hunt us down one by one if for nothing else then for the thrill of it. Meanwhile, Tameeka can't resist weak prey. But she can't attack you in her Ghostly form, only when she's got you cornered. That's when we jump her! If we catch her enough by surprise, we'll be able to lock her in human form and make a hostage out of her. And because of her link to the other Gales, they won't try to attack us as long as they hold the risk of hurting her and damaging their own powers. That'll give us just the leverage we need to not only weaken them but also reverse the entire spell no strings attached."

"And what if it doesn't work?" Willow demanded.

"Then we go to plan B."

"What's plan B?" Cordelia asked.

Angela hesitated. "I don't know yet. To be honest, I'm kind of making this up as I go along."

_A little while later…_

Willow was now weakly making her way down a street. "Well, here I am…all alone…poor little Witch with no powers…"

_Will! Don't overdo it! You're making it obvious! _Angela snapped in her head.

_Well, excuse me, but I'm not used to being bait! _Willow snapped back, _It's usually Xander!_

_Hey! That's…yeah, you're probably right, _Xander sighed.

Willow sighed, rolling her eyes. She then noticed an alley and went down it without giving it a second thought. "Hello? Anyone here? Possibly some Vampires? Oh, why'd I sign up for this?"

In the middle of this groan, Tameeka materialized behind her. "Don't know."

Willow gasped and whirled around to face her (bad idea; weak + spin = instant-dizzy).

Tameeka smirked. "But thanks for the easy kill." She grabbed Willow and pinned her to the wall. "What, no ambush?"

"Good guess." Buffy jumped up and moved to make the capture…only to go right through her.

Tameeka glared at her, a hand on her hip. "Too predictable, kiddos."

Angela looked at her in shock as she walked up to Buffy with the others. "How did you know?"

"Take a wild guess," came Buffy's voice.

Suddenly, they were all thrown through the wall into the abandoned building on the other side.

Vampire Buffy stormed up, the rest of the bad gang directly behind her. She smirked. "You need to work on the secrets, you seem to leak 'em pretty fast."

Angela then got it. "The link…just like we can see when parts of our beings go missing…they can see our plans and sense our moves."

"Wow, she actually figured it out," Darkana smirked, "And seeing as we're short one and you're not, I'd say you also figured out the little loophole in Cass' spell." She leaned over and smirked. "You know it works vice versa?"

Vampire Buffy then grabbed her Slayer counterpart and pinned her to the wall, too strong to be fought off by her hostage…or really do anything but choke her to death…


	8. Grand Finale

Chapter 8: Grand Finale

Before anyone else could move an inch, Angel jumped up and threw Vampire Buffy aside, pulling the real Buffy away.

Vampire Buffy glared at him. "Really? You're trying this now?" She smirked and kicked a nearby table apart, picking up two of the planks and holding them like stakes. "'Cause, you know, two can play at your game."

"Got your 'plan B' yet?" Angel asked his sister under his breath.

Angela quickly looked around…and saw exactly what she needed. _I'd say so. _Hoping the others could catch onto her plan without her explaining it, she then jumped onto a table and over onto the balcony overhead that bore the remains of the stairwell to the roof. "Let's see you guys do that!"

Xan answered that by jumping up there after her.

Angela thought fast. "OK, I didn't mean that literally!" She quickly hit the deck and pushed him off with her feet.

Xander quickly snatched one of the remaining stakes from the floor and held it up.

Xan went right through it and was dust before he hit the ground.

Xander, of course, was covered in Vamp dust and instantly set to shaking himself off.

Darkana instantly glared at the others. "Well, what are you waiting for? GET HIM!"

That's when the fight was on. Vamp Tara instantly Vamped and set her sights on now free-to-kill Xander. Vampire Buffy and Buffy got in a tumble, Dark Willow and Willow started fighting each other off (as best Willow could in her weak state), and the other spell victims set to fighting their doppelgangers.

Angela, however, saw Dawn and Connor as perfect targets for the Gales. "Guys! Get over here!"

Connor quickly rushed to his aunt and jumped up, falling only just short enough to have to grab the ledge instead of actually land on the balcony. "Well, pull me up!"

Angela just grab his arm. "Wait for Dawn! She can't jump that high!"

Dawn quickly got onto a table and jumped for it. She was five inches short.

Evelyn groaned and rushed up. "Here, I got it."

"Wait, no—" Too late. Evelyn threw her up. She quickly grabbed Connor's waist and got pulled up to the balcony with him.

Angela quickly shooed them off to the stairs. "Get on the roof! Evie and I can hold you down!"

"Funny you should mention that." Suddenly, Famina jumped up in her Vamp form and threw her down on top of Evelyn. "You're going down, too." She then started off after Dawn and Connor.

While the fight continued below, Dawn and Connor finally came to the roof.

"OK," said Connor, "I think I'll be fine here."

Dawn glared at him. "You just don't give up, do you?"

"Nope." Famina stormed up and grabbed Connor, throwing him into a wall and knocking him out before he could fight back. She then smirked at Dawn. "And that's how the bones break."

"Uh…" Dawn started walking away, only to be pursued slowly, "I believe the proper term is 'cookie crumbles.'"

"Not the way I use it." Famina then hit her hard enough to knock her down.

Meanwhile, Angela was fighting off Darkana and Isabella both (Evelyn was taking Tameeka and Angel was taking Melody and Cassie). "Well, I believe I learned last year that you hate when people don't give up. You know what I hate?"

"That your friends are idiots?" Isabella smirked, glancing at the fight behind them.

Angela shrugged. "No…you!" She then, in one swift move, grabbed them by the hair, knocked their heads together, jump-kicked them both in the face at the same time, and threw them into Dark Willow and Tara.

Willow thought fast and grabbed the nearest table-remains stake, pushing all her strength into shoving it through her Vampire counterpart's heart.

Angela quickly walked over to her and helped her up and, when no one else was looking, led her into a corner no one else could reach. "Are you OK?"

Willow thought for a second. "I just staked myself…I need some time."

Angela then noticed Darkana and Isabella and Vamp Tara getting back up (and twice as mad). "You'll be OK here for a second?"

"Sure, go fight."

"Alright then." She jumped over and went back to it, throwing Vamp Tara at Xander to send back into the fight.

Back on the roof, Famina had Dawn cornered at the edge. "Face it, Dawnie. Nothing's gonna save you now—" Suddenly, she cut off. She reached her hand to her throat and felt blood dripping down on it. She looked down to see the one thing she never saw coming: a blade in her neck.

Connor stood behind her, holding the sword. "Maybe no one's gonna save her, but I'm definitely gonna stop you."

Famina couldn't fight it now. He already had her in. And with one more swipe, she was dead.

Dawn turned away during this. And when she looked back, all she saw was Connor holding a sword over a pile of dust.

Connor smirked. "Now who's the idiot?"

Back in the main room of the building, Buffy was fighting off her Vampire counterpart…when suddenly, Vampire Buffy began to fade and crack until finally she was gone in a burst of smoke, wind, and light.

Cassie looked around in panic as the other remaining spelled-up Vampires disappeared in the same way. She ran over to the other Gales. "I felt it! It's Famina! She's dead!"

Darkana panicked. She didn't have time to come up with a new battle strategy. "Let's get out of here!"

"Don't we wanna stay for the show?" asked Isabella, nodding towards Angela.

Darkana considered. "No. Let that little brat deal with it." She led her remaining teammates out.

Angel looked at Angela. "What did she mean by—"

Angela just stood there, holding her gut and breathing heavily.

Angel realized what was going on. The Gales' spell that Angela was still a part of had shocked her. Such extreme physical shock…it was trying to bring out Aingael! "No, Angela, no, you have to fight it!"

Angela just leaned against the wall, groaning in pain. She was fighting it, that was the problem.

Evelyn realized that. If Angela kept fighting the magic inside her like this…she would die. Panicking and worrying for her sire, she raced over to Angela's side and grabbed her by the wrists. "Angela, don't fight it. If you fight it, it'll kill you. Just don't give in."

Angela suddenly leaned her whole body against the wall and slowly collapsed to the floor.

Evelyn knelt down practically on top of her. "Angela, I know you're there. Stay with me."

Angela looked at her. Her eyes began to fade to red—then jumped back to blue. Angela was knocked back and fell entirely onto the floor.

Angel raced up to his sister. "Angela! …don't leave me…"

That's when Angela lost consciousness.

_Later…_

_Angela woke up in the lobby of the hotel. It was empty. "Hello!"_

_"Sorry about that," Evelyn said as she walked up, "Didn't wanna freak you out." She dispelled the illusion, revealing that they were on the DreamScape._

_"OK, what happened?" Angela asked, "They didn't get to me, did they?"_

_"Oh no! On the contrary, you fought it perfectly. Got knocked out before it could take you. Unfortunately, you're now having a little trouble waking up, so I thought I'd zap myself into your cranium and see if we could pull you out from the inside."_

_"You can be awake and walk on the DreamScape with the link now?"_

_"Well…I can. Just got some limitations: no longer than an hour, need contact with the full group, and—in light of _current _circumstances—I shouldn't be able to do this again for…about five years."_

_"…OK. And is everyone else alright?"_

_"Oh yeah. Vamp selves disappeared, Gales are off the charts again, I think we're all good…for now. I mean, really, you know us."_

_Angela smirked. "Yeah, I do…and I wouldn't want it any other way." She bent over to hug her surrogate daughter…and jumped back when Evelyn made contact. "Ow! That actually hurt!"_

_"Clear!"_

_"What?!"_

_ZAP!_

Angela shocked awake. "OW! GET OFF ME!"

Evelyn and Willow stood back.

Evelyn smirked. "I think it worked."

"Wow," Willow said, "I'm in shock."

Angela smiled at this. "So 'plan B' worked? Famina's really dead?"

Willow smiled back. "And since Melody was weakened enough, she dropped her hold on my magic and it returned to me."

Angela sighed with relief. "Well…glad that's over."

"So where are you going this time?" asked Angel, sitting down beside her.

"Definitely not Mexico apparently," Angela smirked as she grabbed a blood thermos.

Connor scoffed. "Great, she's fickle and insane, just like—"

"Let me guess," Dawn jumped in, "'Just like all Vampires'?"

"Actually, in this case, just like all girls."

Dawn turned to glare at Connor. "Oh, so suddenly the hopeless cynic decides he'd rather be a hopeless sexist!"

Connor glared at her. "Oh, cry me a river!"

"If I did, you'd pollute it!"

"You self-absorbed brat!"

"You arrogant, cold-hearted jerk!"

"You wanna kiss me as much as I wanna kiss you?!"

"I'm surprised someone like you would even have to ask!"

Suddenly, the two teens were kissing like crazy.

Angela blinked. "Whoa, didn't see that coming."

Connor pulled away. "I hate you!"

"I hate you more!" Dawn snapped back.

Just as suddenly, Dawn and Connor jumped back in, Connor dipping her on top of that.

Angela looked at the others. "I wonder what they'd do if they liked each other." Everyone just shrugged.

_With the Gales…_

The Gales walked into a dark building in some other country.

"Well, that was a disaster," said Isabella, "We lost Famina, we lost the best fight we ever rigged, and I lost all self-esteem!"

"And 50 IQ points," Tameeka snapped under her breath.

Darkana groaned. "Don't worry, girls. We'll get our revenge. They'll all pay."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

Whew! I finally finished it! Put a lot of thought into this. Oh, well, the next two (the last in the Twin Trilogy before I go to the spin-off series) should come along a lot faster. Please keep reading, thanks for reading this one, see you later!


	9. Trailer

Trailer

**What do you do…**

_Flash to Angel and Angela's mother, concealed by a cloak, laying baby Angel on a doorstep._

…**when the one you love is dead?**

_Flash to Connor as a Vampire, biting Dawn._

**What do you do…**

_Flash to Xander walking through Ghost Anya._

…**when no one can see you?**

Anya: I'm dead?

**And what do you do…**

_Flash to Angel holding Buffy's dead body in his arms._

…**when there's nothing you can do?**

Angela: I'm sorry.

**You call these guys.**

_Flash to Andrew throwing a dagger over his shoulder and almost hitting Xander._

Andrew: Sorry!

**Or maybe not…**

Angel: How do you expect us to sneak into Buckingham Palace?

_Flash to Buffy in a trench coat and sunglasses, sneaking through the lobby of Buckingham Palace._

Darkana: You killed my friend, I'm gonna kill you. La-di-da-di-da. Everything works out…for me.

_Flash to a message written in blood on the wall of an alley._

_Flash to Fred, Wesley, Doyle, Anya, Cordelia, and Tara standing in a hall._

Fred: We can have just as much fun out here as we can in there!

(Buffy comes up and turns off the hall light)

Cordelia: Oh, yeah. This is _way_ better.

_Flash to Angela, writhing in pain and screaming._

_Flash to Angel and Buffy dancing together._

_Flash to Wesley and Fred kissing._

_Flash to Dawn and Connor making out on Dawn's bed._

_Flash to a family being eaten alive by a dark energy._

**Can they stop it?**

_Flash to Dawn on her bed with Connor._

Dawn: …I just don't know how this is gonna work and—(Connor kisses her) That was a really nice way of telling me to shut up.

**Will they survive?**

Angel: Connor!

**Will they win…**

Willow: Let me guess. It's who killed him.

Angela: Yeah.

…**the final battle?**

Angela: I did.

**Unlocked**

**Murder Mysteries**

**Coming soon…**


End file.
